Help with using regex

[midoziad]

Hello there,
I have some documents where the formatting is like that:

The biggest ocean in the world (the Pacific-the Indian-the Atlantic-the south pole)

I want the above mentioned example to be like that:

The biggest ocean in the world is ......
a. the pacific
b. the Indian
c. the Atlantic
d. the south pole

If there is any way to use regex in notepad++ to do this task in the replace dialogue box.
thanks in advance

[C2BlEv]

First, I use emeditor (not notepad++), so my regex may not work for you but who knows.
Second, can I assume that you only have four options in all cases (i.e. only a. b. c. d.)?
Third, can I assume there is no text after closing ")" at the end of your example in all cases?
If so, then

Turn regex on
Search: ^(.+?)\((.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\)
Replace: \1is ......\na. \2\nb. \3\nc. \4\nd. \5

[midoziad]

Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it. Unluckily it didn't work for me properly.I think because in some sentences there are words after the ")" last parenthesis. Anyway I'd like to seek your help with a bit easier format:

Code: Select all

1- John ......... to school every day.
a) go        b) goes         c) went         d) gone

I want it to be like that:

Code: Select all

1. John ______ to school every day.
a. go
b. goes
c. went
d. gone

P.S the space between the four choices is either tabs or irregular spaces.
Please, help me with this problem as it will save me a lot of time and efforts

[C2BlEv]

Unluckily it didn't work for me properly.I think because in some sentences there are words after the ")" last parenthesis.

In that case (if you have text after the closing paren), try the following:

Turn regex on
Search: ^(.+?)\((.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\)(.+)$
Replace: \1is ......\na. \2\nb. \3\nc. \4\nd. \5\n\6

Note that you can put this extra text (i.e. \6) anywhere you want. For example,
Replace: \1\6 is ......\na. \2\nb. \3\nc. \4\nd. \5

Anyway I'd like to seek your help with a bit easier format:

Try this:

Turn regex on
Search: ^(\d+)\- (.+?) *?\.+ *?(.+)\na\) (.+?)[\t ]+b\) (.+?)[\t ]+c\) (.+?)[\t ]+d\) (.+?)$
Replace: \1. \2 _____ \3\na. \4\nb. \5\nc. \6\nd. \7

NOTE: I have not tested it so there might be slight issues to debug.
Also I assume that choices are always and only a, b, c, d. If not let me know and I'll adjust the regex.

[midoziad]

Hi
Thank you for your help. this regex was fantastic

^(.+?)\((.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\-(.+?)\)(.+)$

. However I made a modification to the replace thread to be like this:

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\1..........\6\na. \2\nb. \3\nc. \4\nd. \5

this means that the first part of the sentence "\1" is followed by dots space and then the second part of the sentence "\6". and it worked perfectly.
the second format didn't work .but I managed to make a regex as follows:

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^a\)\s(.*)\t+b\)\s(.*)\t+c\)\s(.*)\t+d\)\s(.*)

the replace is :

Code: Select all

a. $1 \r\nb. $2 \r\nc. $3 \r\nd. $4

Once again thank you very much.